The invention is directed to space vehicles and more particularly to the recovering of the liquid fuel engines from space vehicles for reuse.
Liquid fuel rocket engine or engines are very expensive to manufacture, in some instances the cost of the engines exceed the cost of the balance of the vehicle. Obviously a great cost saving could be achieved if the engines could be recovered for reuse.
Although vehicles like the space shuttle are able to return to earth with their engine or engines intact for reuse there has been no attempt to recover the liquid fueled booster engines used to place satellites and like vehicles into orbit.
There is considerable effort by N.A.S.A. to achieve recovery of propulsion modules by means of fly back propulsion systems. These systems being studied have very high costs associated therewith due to the fact that the modules require guidance, navigation equipment and ground crew support.
There has not been an inexpensive means for recovering expensive booster engines until the emergence of this invention.